Rising Star
by Lord Brambleeyes
Summary: Blackpaw twisted his head around to get a better look at his second attacker. Brokenpaw was siting triumphantly on Blackpaw's back. Yarrowpaw was beginning to make a wheezing noise. Please read and review!
1. Chapter 1

Author's Note: Hey, the pace will speed up in future chapters. In the meantime please review!

Lord Brambleeyes

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Blackkit wiggled himself in to what he thought was a good hunting position. Then, with a loud squeak, he pounced on the frog. At the same moment another two kits came rolling out of a hidden hollow, a pile of wreathing kitten fur, which without warning, rolled straight into the unsuspecting Blackkit. With a small hiss, Blackkit reared up on his hind legs and landed on top of the living heap. The game did not continue for much longer, for at that same moment there was a yowl from the edge of the clearing.

The large ball of kittens instantly broke up, all around the clearing cats were coming out of their shelters, and heading towards the large, smooth rock at the edge of the clearing. A large, pale brown tabby queen emerged from the kit's hollow, and trotted past them. The kits were know watching the cat on the rock, with wide eyed attention."Let all cats old enough to catch their own prey join here for a clan meeting". Blackkit looked to Brokenkit, who was still watching Raggedstar with a look of great wonder. "Is that Claw-" Blackkit's words were cut off by a hiss from the tabby queen.

"Clawpaw, you have trained hard to be a good apprentice, you fought bravely against that badger today, I think it is now time for you to become a warrior." Clawpaw seemed as if he was rooted to the clearing floor, all that seemed to move were his whiskers, which were twitching slightly. " I, Raggedstar, leader of ShadowClan, call upon my warrior ancestors to look down on this apprentice. He has trained hard to understand your noble code, and I commend him to you as a warrior in turn. Clawpaw do you promise to uphold the warrior code and to protect and defend this clan, even at the cost of your life?" "I-I do." Clawpaw's claws sunk in to the ground as if into a piece of pray. "Then by the powers of StarClan, I give you your warrior name. Clawpaw, from this moment you will be known as Clawface. StarClan honors your bravery and your determination, and we welcome you as a full warrior of ShadowClan." Raggedstar lept off the rock in one graceful bound, landing a few tail lengths away from Clawface and resting his muzzle on the new warrior's bowed head. Clawface licked his shoulder respectfully. There was an instant surge, as all the cats in the clearing came forward, to congratulate the still stunned Clawface. At the back of the throng of cats, sat Blackkit, Yarrowkit, and Brokenkit. Their eyes shone as they watched the young warrior. "I am going to be the best warrior in the forest" said Blackkit, still staring at Clawface. "I will be the greatest warrior in all of ShadowClan, no matter what it takes". At that moment it seemed as though a shadow had passed through Blackkit's eyes, but then it was gone, and there were just three kits, staring out at the new warrior.

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	2. Chapter 2

Author's Note: Thanks to everyone who reviewed! Some people have mentioned that the timeline may be slightly off. For the purpose of the story, I've had to make some adjustments. I appreciate your concern, and hope that you enjoy the second chapter.

Please review!

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Chapter 2

Blackkit tried to escape from his mother's ferocious licking, but to no avail, Lizardstripe was determined to have him presentable, whether he liked it or not. Blackkit gave up, and stared out of the hollow. His time of staying in the nursery was over, now it was time for him to become an apprentice. His brother, Yarrowkit, was siting silently next to Brokenkit. They had both already been cleaned, and were staring out of the hollow, their eyes shining in the light of the sun. Blackkit glanced at Brokenkit, the tabby was not his brother, Blackkit's mother had told him that long ago. Lizardstripe had explained how Raggedstar had brought Brokenkit to her when he was barely a day old. The leader had asked her to care for the kit, telling Lizardstripe that the true mother was not able, and did not wish to be known. Blackkit took a good look at Brokenkit, his flat, broad face and long fur. Blackkit thought of all the cats he had seen in the camp. He couldn't envision a single warrior that Brokenkit looked like, and yet, sometimes, Brokenkit did seem oddly familiar.

Blackkit quickly dismissed the thought, for at that moment, a yowl had just sounded from the edge of the clearing, which signaled a clan meeting. Lizardstripe quickly gave Blackkit a final lick, and allowed him to join his littermates. Blackkit, Brokenkit and Yarrowkit all held their heads high as they approached the rock. Raggedstar stared down at the three kits, from his seat on top of the smooth, flat boulder. "Cats of ShadowClan, these three kits have now reached their sixth moon, the time has come to make them apprentices." Brokenkit, standing on one side of Blackkit, made a slight squeak.

Raggedstar lept off the rock and landed in front of the three kits. "Cloudpelt, you did well mentoring Nightpelt. It is time for you to have a new apprentice. You will mentor Blackpaw. " Cloudpelt stepped forward, his long, snowy white fur flashing in the midday sunlight. Trying not to shake, Blackpaw touched noses with his new mentor. "Yarrowpaw, your mentor shall be Clawface." Raggedstar then turned to face Clawface, who had stepped forward."I hope that you will be as good a mentor, as you were an apprentice." Yarrowpaw was still staring wide eyed at Raggedstar, but at a small hiss from Brokenpaw, he quickly turned to face his mentor, so fast that he barely missed bumping heads with his mentor. Clawface gave a small, quiet snort and then touched noses with his apprentice. Raggedstar then turned to face Brokenpaw. "Brokenpaw, I will personally mentor you, and pass on all the knowledge I can." Raggedstar stepped forward to touch noses with his new apprentice.

The cats in the clearing instantly came forward, calling out the names of the three new apprentices. Blackpaw watched Brokenpaw for a moment, the tabby was standing in the middle of the throng, his eyes shining like two small suns as he drank in all the congratulations. Yarrowpaw vanished for a minute, then out of the corner of his eye Blackpaw saw his brother standing next to Lizardstripe, with his ears pinned back. Blackpaw did not have to hear them to know Yarrowpaw was being scolded for nearly hitting his new mentor in the head. Blackpaw decided that it was best not to go over, instead he decided to join his new mentor. He quickly turned around and headed back to where Cloudpelt was sitting. He sat nearby, "when do I get to start learning how to fight?" Cloudpelt let out an amused purr, and Blackpaw could have sworn he heard tom mutter under his breath "why is that always the first question?" "We will start your battle training tomorrow. First, I'm going to show you the territory, then, you can begin learning to fight." Blackpaw's training had begun!

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	3. Chapter 3

Blackpaw poked his head into the apprentices' den. Besides the three new apprentices (Yarrowpaw, Blackpaw, and Brokenpaw), there was only one other apprentice, Brightpaw. Brightpaw was the same age as Clawface, but due to the fact that she had contracted white cough(which had then evolved into green cough), her assessment had been postponed until she recovered. It had been over a moon since she had fallen ill, and Blackpaw knew that she would be having her warrior assessment any day now. Until then, there would be four apprentices in the den, underneath the two old trees that had fallen so long ago that no cat could remember.

Blackpaw padded into the apprentices' den. Soft, surprisingly dry, green moss carpeted the floor. As Blackpaw shaped himself a nest out of the moss, he thought of all he had done that day. He and Yarrowpaw had gone on their first patrol with their mentors. First they had traveled to the ThunderClan border. Blackpaw had been told stories about the Thunderpath when he was a young kit, but when he finally saw it he couldn't believe it was so big. Unfortunately, Blackpaw was not able to get his first smell of ThunderClan, due to the fact that he was upwind.

After Yarrowpaw and Blackpaw had finished the patrol, Cloudpelt and Clawface showed them a few of the basics of hunting frogs. The moves seemed simple enough. . . until he actually tried them. Blackpaw had crept up right behind the frog( just as he was told!). However, at the last minute the frog had caught sight of the apprentice, giving a loud "croak"and jumping back into the muddy pool. Blackpaw had been convinced that he had failed horribly.

Then, on the way back to camp, Yarrowpaw caught sight of a frog, sitting underneath a small, fern-like plant. Yarrowpaw had started out well, but then the frog had saw him and started to hop away at an amazing pace. Yarrowpaw didn't give up, though. Blackpaw and the two mentors waited as Yarrowpaw raced off, paws pounding on the soft marshy ground. A short while later, Yarrowpaw returned. His resemblance to a cat was minimal. His fur, which had been a nice glossy color earlier was now plastered with mud. His coat was covered in thorns and burs and his eyes had a dull look in them. With out making a single noise, he sat back down next to them.

Blackpaw was jolted from his thoughts as Brokenpaw entered the apprentices' den, his head was held high as he brought in a small salamander. "Blackfaw wook what I caughf!" He shook the salamander, which hung limp from his mouth. Blackpaw gave purr of pleasure for his litter mate. He came over to where Brokenpaw was doing his best to keep the salamander in his mouth and admire it at the same time. "I neef to gf gif thif to fhe elders now" Brokenpaw gave Blackpaw a playful nudge and ran off in the direction of the elders' den.

At the same time, from the other side of the clearing, Yarrowpaw exited the den of Yellowfang(the medicine cat). He looked slightly better then when he had run back from chasing the frog, but his fur was still coated in mud, and his eyes still had that dull look to them. Blackpaw decided that it was best not to tell Yarrowpaw about Brokenpaw's first catch. "You couldn't expect to catch anything." Blackpaw told his brother, "I mean it's only your first time. I mean look at me, I did the same thing, just you didn't give up... you stupid furball." Yarrowpaw gave a growl of a mock fury and lept on to his brother's back. The mock battle continued until finally Blackpaw ended up on top. His victory was short lived, for at that moment another creature landed on top of him. Blackpaw twisted his head around to get a better look at his second attacker. Brokenpaw was siting triumphantly on Blackpaw's back. Yarrowpaw was beginning to make a wheezing noise. " Get off me! I'm crushing Yarrowpaw, you mousebrain!" Blackpaw exclaimed. Brokenpaw lept off of Blackpaw, who then got off of Yarrowpaw. Yarrowpaw looked worse then when the play fight had started, but the dull look in his eyes had been replaced by a light somewhat like fire. He had improved his brothers mood if nothing else, thought Blackpaw. He walked away, leaving Brokenpaw and Yarrowpaw to argue about the fight.

As Blackpaw walked toward the fresh-kill pile, he saw Yellowfang, who was intently watching Yarrowpaw and Brokenpaw(who were now engaged in a small tussle). As Blackpaw drew closer, Yellowfang seemed to sense that she was being watched, and she turned her head and looked at him. "Your brother is better, it seems," she said in her scratchy voice, just as Yarrowpaw was pinned underneath Brokenpaw. Blackpaw gave a small nod. Without any warning, Yellowfang abruptly turned around and headed back to her den.

At that moment Blackpaw decided it best to intervene before Yarrowpaw lost any more of his pride. Before Blackpaw could even reach the den, a large, sleek black and white form barreled in to Brokenpaw. Brokenpaw gave an annoyed hiss at being knocked off his opponent. Blackpaw's eyes were practically tearing from amusement, as he watched Brokenpaw get pummeled by the older and more experienced Brightpaw. Blackpaw sat down in a small patch of sunlight to enjoy the display.

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Oh yes, feel free to go on my profile to see my poll, but if you haven't read Long Shadows yet there will be spoilers.


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